That’s good news! That’s exactly the lenses we need now. A fast zoom for our GH2, and a fast standard prime.

UPDATE: I like that “etc” at the bottom right of the picture :)

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Great news! Seems as though Panasonic and Olympus are finally starting to focus on photographers instead of just on people looking to take family snapshots while on vacation. The 25mm f/1.4 is the best news I’ve heard in a while. The bright zoom is also nice (hopefully the 12-75mm), but I love 50mm primes, I use one 85% of the time on my SLR. The Voigtlander 25mm is nice of course, but AF and electrical contacts to auto trigger manual focus mode are very welcome additions.

My only concern is the IQ of m43 25mm F/1.4 vs. a 43 25mm F/1.4 with telecentric design. I don’t know but have a question in terms of real optical output vs. in-body lens-compensation. I guess a camera require no mirrorbox has a wider striking angle from the lens axis to the sensor, which means the effect of having telecentricity is more significant.

By the way, did anyone actually go to the Amazon site to visit the pre-order links for the Panasonic items? They were all listed at $0.01, then relatively quickly gone, but I still have the product link for the GH2 and its now apparently up at #14 in electronics so I suspect they sold a good # of them. It’ll be curious to see if that was an error, or their wanting to boost the ranking of the items by selling a few off on the cheap.

May be there is, but what if it doesn’t like the PL 25mm F/1.4?
Those engineers are not necessary photographers, they just cannot understand why we need IS on a fast prime in terms of scientific calculations…

Because we DO step-down the aperture for compositions!

Joel

Not only that, but you can get a further benefit with IS in low light. If your choices are 20mm f/3.5 w/ IS and 20mm f/1.7 w/o IS, then the noise in the photographs will be similar.

This and Panasonic’s heavy video push is why they need to just put IS in the body. That makes for smaller/cheaper lenses as well.

Miroslav

Panasonic doesn’t put OIS in wide and normal primes. Don’t count on it in these lenses.

25/1.4 is too close to the 20/1.7 — only 25% longer and 1/3 stop faster. Nice to have someday, but not what we need NOW.

What we need NOW in this product line is wide aperture portrait/medium tele lens. In other words, what we need is a frickin’ 50/1.4 AF!!! Why is that so hard?!? Cheez, you’d think nobody in photo history had ever designed a 50/1.4…

Eric

The only reason I’d rather has a 25mm f/1.4 before a 50mm f/1.4 is because as you pointed out; there are tons of fast fifty’s that can be adapted to use as a portrait lens until native glass comes out (I have a Pentax 50m/1.4 myself). I personally don’t mind manual focus for portrait work, however a 25mm f/1.4 would be on my camera almost all the time. True, we already have the 20mm, but it seems like people always prefer either 35mm or 50mm. I’m in the latter group.

Okay, granted AF isn’t essential in a portrait lens, but it IS extremely helpful for documentary, theater, indoor sports, and lots of other types of shooting for which a wide-aperture medium tele lens is very useful.

And in terms of how they’re used, the existing 20/1.7 is a lot closer to a putative 25/1.4 than the existing 45/2.8 is to a putative 50/1.4. It just seems as if they’re looking at a relatively small gap in their lineup, while ignoring a large one.

Oh, well, maybe Olympus will come up with something…

stonebat

25 1.4… pls dont make it pancake. make it bigger for better MF control.

A kind reminder to those why 43 bodies: if you need a PL 25mm F/1.4, buy it now before it is too late! Panasonic don’t make 43 body now, and when the m43 version of 25mm F/1.4 is readily marketable they will no-longer make the 43 version!

Oh boy! I was thinking the GH2 was going to be my last extravance…
I see a 7-14 in the not so near future… And now the 25mm F1.4 and then the fast zoom…
Might as well get another job!

spanky

Now if we can only get someone to PLEASE come up with a pro/semi-pro MFT body that puts out kick-ass stills (could care less about video, but if it must have it, then so be it) with wide DR and decent ISO performance without banding. I’m waiting to see detailed analysis for the GH2 and the E-5, but I’m also considering switching to the D7000 for my serious work if those two don’t deliver in IQ.

Temptag

+1
I am pretty happy with the video from my hacked GH1 – what I really want is better stills performance and the D7000 looks very interesting.

Miroslav

Wow! Three fast/bright lenses coming! Now it’s becoming hard: to get 20mm F1.7, or 25mm F1.4 and 14mm F2.5 or 25mm F0.95 with MF and 14mm F2.5 or three or all four (and one more job)? And how wide and how bright is that bright wide angle?

Olympus are probably busy preparing the next firmware upgrade for their existing lenses…
You know, signaling us all that they are dead serious about 4/3 and m4/3…

CML

I think someone needs to light a fire underneath Olympus to get their m4/3 “replacements” for E4XX-E6XX to market asap…!

Miroslav

m4/3 E-620 = enough

George

that was all i needed for an upgrade :) great news

kman

This is great news. At least they are trying to build anticipation by giving their customers some specific things to look forward to. Even if it is speculation, it is at least fresh speculation. I would love to see something like this from Olympus. They really owe us a road map, since things feel so unstable right now.

I’m very happy for the panasonic system owners!

Miroslav

Next lenses on Olympus roadmap are 8mm fisheye, 12mm F2.8 and 50mm macro. Sound familiar? Look up their roadmap in the posts on this site.

Andrew

Yeah I actually kind of commend Panasonic for the combination of lenses they have released. It expresses the broad scope Panasonic has for it’s cameras. 14mm – Promising, light-weight and tiny lens. 100-300mm – Aimed at Sports and Naure photography and the 3D to signify the future (albeit a forced one). I have this fantasy they’ll announce a series of fast primes next.

Andrew

edit: they haven’t actually released the 14mm, 100-300mm, 3d lenses of course.

iMikl

@Admin
When exactly did the 14mm 2.5 first appear on the lens roadmap?
In other words: How long does it normally take from a consideration to production?

Kosta

I’m definitely down for this 25mm lens. but to get this one or the Voigtlander??? that is my key question.
i know this one has autofocus which is added bonus (plus added dollars)…
be nice to see some image samples to compare…although i’d love to get my hands on both to try out!

JCC

Let’s hope it won’t cost $1000+!

If it will cost that much it better be f1.0!

Greg

Still looking for that portrait lens. I need a 35 or 40mm 1.8 and I will be happy! I have the 20mm 1.7 so the 25 does not really interest me much.

SamPieter

+1 Greg

gocalbears

I’m all for fast lenses, but is there a big difference between 25mm f1.4 and the 20mm pancake (which most people have already)?

cL

25mm = 50mm in 35mm term, which is the normal lens. Closest to human view. Because of 2x crop factor, 20mm is really 40mm, which is a little more like 35mm. You can crop, of course, to get 50mm, but I personally don’t care for crop and 40mm is still not 50mm, so the angle of view is slightly different (though I can’t tell myself, difference between 14mm and 20mm is definitely noticeable though).

Beside that it’s just the aperture. I am sure 25mm f1.4 won’t be a pancake. It also need the Leica branding or lots of people would just ask the same question you did (which is perfectly fine), just from marketing point of view.

Chez Wimpy

20mm is the only “normal” lens of m43, because a normal is simply the diagonal of the sensor. 50mm is the “normal” for 135 format, but it was chosen (back in the day) because it is easier to design than a true normal. The human eye sees nothing like a 50mm lens… not unless your brain crops to that FOV!

Temptag

Please Panasonic do this but please also make your pricing more reasonable. I am in for all three if they are produced and sold for a reasonable price.

Ross

Am I the only one who looks at this image and wonders if it is genuine? Where was it shown publicly? Something appears ‘wrong’ to me …. sort of ‘Photoshopped’.

I would dearly love these lenses’under consideration’ to be true, but the type/font appears slightly off from the other wording in the image, and why is it darker, and why the strange space before the ‘etc’? Surely Panasonic would trumpet the new lenses listed on the left, but I am a little doubtful about the heavy-type and vague ‘under consideration’ lenses?

Please someone tell me I am seriously mistaken (I hope I am).

bruce

Here’s the error level analysis of that image Ross. I’m not exactly sure how to interpret it myself…perhaps somebody will pipe-up.

Thanks for that! I didn’t know of this software, and I agree it gives interesting, although somewhat difficult to interpret results in this instance. However since your efforts, someone over at DPReview has located the ‘proof’ and it goes against my suspicions and supports the image as true. It was a clip from the original Panasonic press conference to launch the GH2, and the image comes on screen towards the end of the presentation:

I’m glad to be proven wrong, and look forward to the possibilities as outlined …. I sincerely hope they change to ‘under development’ from the vague ‘under consideration’ :-)

TR

Nice work Panasonic! I’m all for a 25 1.4 – and I don’t need I.S. at that speed.

DonTom

Have to agree Ross, it does look like the extra text has been added to the pic. We are too trusting sometimes!

Ross

Hi DonTom,

Looks like I was wrong ….. see my reply to Bruce above. There was a video made at Photokina. Me bad :-/

TR

It is good to see a company letting its fans know what to expect. I don’t know why others are so secretive. It is this kind of thing that keeps us interested. Olympus, Fuji has outdone you for cool looks, specs, and manual functionality, Panasonic is outdoing you in MFT lenses. I’d say you better show something soon.

“under consideration” sounds weird to me, like those fast babies are far far away yet, a manufacturer should not say “under consideration” to the public like a lady.
Just do it pany, you are in the right course !

Voldenuit

Too close to the 20/1.7 for me.

I have the 20/1.7 and the ME45/2.8, and I would have bought a 40/1.4 to complement my kit in a heartbeat.

I’m finding it a lot harder to justify the 25/1.4 in addition to the 20/1.7, although it would certainly be worth considering *in lieu* of the 20/1.7.

Fast. Portrait. Lens. Panny. Want. Now.

VilleV

Please hurry on the zoom already :P
Please let it cost around 500€.

I don’t care about the range, as long as the effective aperture at the long end is about 15mm (35/2.5, 42/2.8, 60/4 etc).

I got a new Panasonic 25mm f/1.4 just two days ago. It has a front focus problem. :( I gotta send it back for correction/repair.

Anyhow, I’m not sure if that lens would “work” on a MFT, especially a smaller body. It’s REALLY heavy and clumsy, even on a FT body like my E-520.

TempTag

I have a 25mm that seems to front focus as well on a GH1 if I have multiple AF points. Seems to work OK with a single AF point though. I am unsure to send for repair or not.

Thomas

I don’t know why the mFT manufacturers (or FT manucafturers for that matter) are (were) so reluctant to produce decent primes. If mFT (FT) is about high image quality in a compact camera, then there’s really no way around primes.

The smaller sensor (compared to FF) requires faster lenses in order to give the photographer sufficient DOF control, and also to compensate for the lesser high iso performance of the smaller sensor due to its higher pixel density.

I understand that there are also marketing concerns, but the system should at least make sense from a technical point of view, which is not the case at the moment IMHO.

There were rumors about lens faster than 1.4. What happened? Panasonic do not want to compete with CV 25/0.95? 25/1.4 is too close to 20/1.7. Bright wide angle? They just released 14/2.5. what about bright telephoto: 35-100? What about fast portrait? Manual 50/1.4 weren’t developed for such pixel density as is in m4/3.

admin

My guess is that the 25mm f/1.4 will become f/1.3 or f/1.2 as it happened with the 14mm lens which originally was 2.8 (and now 2.5)!

Jules

Panasonic seemingly doesn’t want to produce a lens that has to be stop down to be sharp.
The 1.7/20 or the panleica 1.4/25 @infinity can be used with their maximum aperture, they will produce more than decent corners. Can’t say the same about the Voigtländer 0.95/25 for instance (*).
Then, there is the question of the AF motor. How well does Panasonic master the CDAF technology for faster optics, we don’t know yet. My guess is that they won’t produce a blazingly fast lens, even if they can, unless they can make it focus decently fast.

(*) Its not priced like a Leica Noctilux, you get what you pay for. If you know it, accept it and deal around its limitations, its perfectly all right.

I think they (Panasonic, Olympus) are concerned about size and weight and that is the reason why there are no fast primes or high quality zoom lenses around except for the 20/1.7. Bright zooms will become large and heavy, there is just no way around that, and that is the opposite to the whole idea with the m43 concept; small and light compared to Full Frame/ APS-C but still high image quality, especially compared to compacts. m43 is not about getting the best IQ (other systems do that better), but doing the right compromises between size and IQ and the joy of making pictures.

Personally I would like to see a camera like the new Fujifilm FinePix X100 but with interchangeable lenses. Will that be the GF2 or something from the others with an APS-C sensor?

They better should be interested in fast primes. Look at NEX’s lens mockups, there aren’t any pancakes. They could be fast lenses.

Miroslav

Sony has already forgotten NEX after a couple of months. No bigger body with better controls (NEX-7) until 2011 and 7 more lenses in the next 2 years !? In 2012 they are going to have fewer lenses than m4/3 now. That AF for A mount lenses has to be quick or else everyone’s going to forget NEX. And with that body size, no more pancakes is bad news. Out of those seven lenses, 3 are huge.

gekopaca

Dear Pany,
Give us a 10mm please! We don’t care about Zooms for tourists!

Jay Gloab

Who is “we”?

I think the other posts in this thread indicate there is considerable interest in zooms. I would definitely be interested in a 10mm, but I’d also very much like something like the Olympus 12-60 remade for Micro Four Thirds.

Remember Olympus did try f/2 zooms with the calssic Four Thirds. Those SHG-class of lenses are big, heavy and pricey.

That’s not the core ideas for Micro Four Thirds. Rather it’s to leverage on size and weight reduction. Contrast focus speed will also be taking a heavy penalty from these large lens elements in classic Four Thirds.

The only route for µ43 to have bright lenses are through primes, balancing the smallness of µ43 with the need for bright lenses to get narrow DOF and better low light performance.

Micro Four Thirds is going to become a system with either a bag of bright expensive primes, or slow consumer zooms leveraging on it’s size advantage.

Classical Four Thirds Zooms and lenses will therefore coexist and keep its value, but will need a phase detection AF also in future. Hope is for Fujifilm new technology with sensor-based PDAF.

Jay Gloab

I agree that the really big glass like the 35-100 and 90-250 probably wouldn’t really fit into the MFT concept, but there’s definitely room in the system for something like the 12-60. It’s similar in dimensions to the 45-200, for instance, and could be made smaller if re-engineered for MFT due to the system’s advantage for wide angle lens design.

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